Taken from the back page of 200ad prog 170, dated 26 July 1980.
I do remember the ‘Black Hole’, basically an updated ‘Count Dracula’s Deadly Secret’, which was mentioned in a previous post. Both Funny Feet (which was a wodge of ice cream on a stick, and the successor to Funny Faces) and Magic Monster Lolly are memorable (Magic Monster Lolly in particular – I cannot remember all of Frankensteins friends, but there was a Dracula and Wolf man). Incredible Hulk is the only one I have no recollection of, but was obviously cashing in on the popularity of the hit TV show of the time.
The same prog is also host to a quintessentially late 70’s / early 80s phenomena as Tharg the Mighty gets the Rude Boy / 2 Tone treatment, courtesy of someone from Nuneaton, a mere few miles away from Coventry, the 2 Tone movements hub;
In prog 206 of the British science fiction weekly 2000AD (dated 4th of April, 1981) there was a curious news item that made an appearance just above an advert for ‘Tiger and Speed’ comic;
Well, I knew the following – that in 1975, Elton John released the album ‘Rock of the Westies’, and this included the track ‘Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)’. I also knew that in 1979, David Bowie referenced Dan Dare in his song ‘DJ(song)’, taken from the ‘Lodger’ album. What I didn’t have was any information on the proposed TV series and its subsequent collapse. However, all has been made clear in an excellent article at downthetubes.net;
where you get a detailed account of what happened, including fascinating trivia such as James Fox was set to play Dan Dare, and Phil Redmond was mooted as the writer of the show. It all makes perfect sense with hindsight, and would have probably been brilliant, regardless of the technical / special effects budget constraints on TV at the time (when relatively cheap CGI was still a long way off).
A series did eventually make it to television in the early noughties, and was broadcast by Five in the UK. It lasted for one series. This was a CGI re imagining, and the return of Captain Scarlet a few years later also went the same way, but lasted for 2 series. Here is the trailer for the Dan Dare series;
Anyone who used to read Marvel UK in the early 1980s would probably remember this advert, and it is just an excuse really to print it to show the Soundtrack album covers.
This is taken from 1983, from the back cover of a copy of the Uncanny X-Men reprints. Some great fantasy, action, horror and sci-fi soundtracks listed there – Mad Max 2, The Beastmaster, Xtro….
On sports day at Longwood Primary School, one of the treats, alongside the fact there were no lessons on that day, was the arrival of the Ice Cream van. Either a blue & white or a yellow & white affair, with the Lyons Maid or Walls logo emblazoned on the back and sides and the various wares advertised with stickers on the serving windows. This symbol of our after school life, at school, was a very pleasant juxtaposition. Whats with the reminiscing? I’m coming to it.
Walls and Lyons Maid were the Lords of Lollies in the Seventies – Funny Face, Funny Feet, Bionic Lolly, Choc-a-bloc, Lord Toffingham, Haunted House, Pineapple Mivvi or, if your folks were particularly skint, a Lemonade Sparkle or Mini-Milk ….
Back to the point! The reason for my reverie is that 2 wonderful blogsites have reawakened my childhood memories of one of the best ice lollies I have tasted, and reminded me of the ice cream vans at sports day. This particular lolly was the one I always asked for after the egg and spoon race – it was called ‘Count Draculas Deadly Secret’, and not only did it have an amazing name, it also had a ‘deadly secret’ – that secret was the blood red jelly centre once you had eaten through the black lolly and white ice cream – aaagggghhhhhhhh!
Here is one of the press adverts, usually seen in comics of the time (around the mid 70’s) courtesy of both the the cobwebbed room and lewstringer.blogspot;
not only, but also……Lew Stringers blog manages to drag a big carrier bag of junk food and drink related advertising goodness back to his site – there’s Cresta (which was up against Corona in a low budget British pepsi vs coke war) amongst other stuff. Does anyone else remember the pop man? He used to deliver Corona pop and you got ‘busy with the fizzy’ stickers and pop bottles in crates…..Anyway, Lew Stringers site is amazing – his blog is a real treat. Here’s the post – but the site is just great in general;
If you look here there’s an old advert for Anglo Bubbly bubble gum from waaaay back.
A request – Can anyone provide me with a link or a picture of a Lord Toffingham lolly wrapper? I remember it being a brown wrapper with a ‘Lord Snooty’ type illustration of a young man wearing a monocle. I would love to see one of those….
By the way, I found this on youtube – did you pass the Corona fizzical???
those we left behind 
